Christmas 2005 House Picture

This is before we added a couple of things. It's even better now. 

Update 2005-08-02

The adoption clock is ticking. The Power of Attorney for Ana (Evelyn) has arrived in Guatemala. Now, the 6 month wait is starting although, Ana may already have a number of things done since she has visited the United States. We miss her and hope the wait is not too long. I need to go over the things to bring for the final trip and put them all together including the passports and copies of the passports. No Visa is required for Guatemala if the stay is less than 90 days. Nancy has stipulated that no packages are to be sent. Hand carry only. Legal documents are the only thing that can be sent without incurring customs and duty charges. I need to send Sue a copy of the standard Notary language that is required on legal documents in Santa Clara County. The Power of Attorney that Nancy sent was not acceptable to either the Notary or the Santa Clara County Clerk's Office. Good thing I noticed that or there would have been even more delay. I found out the hard way that the Guatemalan Embassy in San Francisco is only open from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.

Russ seems to be doing OK. I need to call him and the family. Mom is still taking Nana's medication and her primary care physician has threatened to quit. Donna and Keith have birthdays this month. I need to get cards.

Lisa and I have decided on the birth date and name for Ana on her U.S. birth certificate. We'll have to find out the reqirements for that.

Check out Quickbooks for Customer Mailing Lists and UPS shipping. Since Ebay is so lousy maybe we can do everything out of Quickbooks to save a lot of effort.

Need to worm the horses and order worming and Frontline for dogs. Other than that, not much else except the back yard project. Need a pry bar. Crepe Mertle trees along the back fence would be nice. The apple trees are a royal pain in the butt. I would prefer some type of evergreen for year round blockage of sun and lights from the house behind us.

Update 2005-07-18

Lot's of things going on. We just finished Ana's visit with us last Tuesday and everything was wonderful. Everyone was happy and got to know each other. We went to Bonfante Gardens, the horses, Monterey Bay Aquarium and the movies to see Madagascar. Other than that we just spent time as a family doing family things. We even spent time running in the sprinklers acting out different things as we rang through. Everyone laughed their heads off when they got me to do a "ballerina" through the sprinklers. Ana is an adorable, loving, sweet, affectionate, smart and personable child. We constantly miss her and we are waiting to hear word from Nancy down in Guatemala about Ana's story and developments since the trip. It's been six days and no word so we are very anxious since we told Ana we would stay in touch with her. We are also waiting on the Power of Attorney form to be sent to us.

Animal wise everyone is doing fine. Jackie's growth on his ear is going down. Ana loves Jackie. Sumo tolerates her as part of the family but not much else. Ana rode Pali with no problems. Bonnie is mellowing a little more and we had a great weekend. Lot's of cantering Saturday. Some problems with the left lead. Just some walking around the track on sunday with some going over obstacles. Spooked Eli when we made some noise in the grass.

Russell is having surgery today on his lung. I pray he comes out OK. Hopefully nothing got into the lymph nodes. The results of his total body scan were encouraging. The rest of the family is holding up but I don't think Nana is going to weather this well no matter what the outcome. At her age, shocks like this can't be good for her. Mom has been restricted at the drug store from picking up perscriptions. Her primary doctor has threatened to quit if she doesn't know off fooling with her drugs. Donna bought a lock box to keep the drugs in. No word from the Lightbody family about Ana's pictures. Understandable since Russell is in such trouble.

Need to pay bills tonight and get some spider spray. Two black widows in two days is not a good thing. I sprayed for grubs yesterday. I need to spray for other insects too and for lawn fungus to clear up the front lawn problems. I need to clean the grill. I think the hot weather is making it smell a bit. The back and front lawns need some seeding. The garage needs micro screens put in.

Miko Finds a Home

Since May 14, 2005 Miko has been at the Santa Clara County shelter. Today, June 24th, 2005 I went to visit him like I usually did twice a week. The last time I was there, Miko had been moved. He had been in the back room, on the bottom row, where the new and stray cats are kept. Now, he was in the front room in the middle row. A much better place for him. I gave him some treats, patted him for a while, talked to him and told him he was a good boy and to keep using his litter box like he had been. That was on Monday. Today I did not find him in either room. With trepidation, I checked the front desk and learned that he had found a new home. I was both sad and glad that someone had given him a second chance considering his circumstances. I will miss my "nut child" kitty dearly.

Goodbye Miko and Good Luck.

With Love,
Rich

Update 2005-06-24

Uncle Russell: Russ is in the hospital with blood clots in legs. Apparently, he got them Sunday night after mowing lawn. My guess is a combination of factors including, diet, exercise amount, long drives in cars and possibly something to do with the spot on lung. Biopsy has been taken for analysis. He's on blood thinner shots. Not sure when he's going to get out of hospital. I'm sure Nana is taking this very hard. Brings up some issues if God forbid Russ goes before Nana.

Adoption: The bedrooms are painted, carpeted and new blinds. The bedroom furniture for the children's bedroom should be here on the 28th in time for Ana's visit. Got word from Nancy that Ana's passport and the letter from the judge allowing Ana to leave the country are in hand. Nancy will get Ana's visa next Tuesday. I need to get cash from the bank to cover Nancy and Ana's plane ticket and Ana's visa fee. Nancy says our paperwork arrived and everything looks in order. Need to do a number of things before Ana gets here. 1) Check all drawers and cabinets for child danger items such as medicine, alcohol, chemicals and sharp objects. 2) Clean the vehicles. 3) Get child booster seat if needed. I wish I knew how much Ana weighs so that I can one before she arrives. 4) Take dogs to groomer and vet. Make sure shots up to date and Jackie's ear looked at. 4) Will need Medical Release for Ana's visit. 5) Find out if OK to take to horses and ride. Wow, only 12 days away. We'll be going to Bonfante Gardens, shopping, horses, Santa Cruz maybe, a horse show if one around. Videos are on way from Amazon.com Lot's of questions for Ana without us being a pain. Going to be hard because we're going to want to know everything about her and her life.

Animals: Lisa said Pali looked a little off yesterday. I gave him a gram of bute. I need to schedule worming and shoeing dates for everyone. I also need to bring everyone's shots up to date especially West Nile. Pali and Bonnie are OK on spring shots and West Nile but need to set schedule. Jack and Sumo need shots I think and Jackie's ear needs to be looked at. Bonnie is getting better at the canter and less attitude. Ellie needs some spook training. Tanner stops training June 30 until November. Pali needs some tune up work.

House: Need to seed the bare spots out back. Give the little tree some B vitamins. Mow lawn and edge everything before Ana and Nancy's visit. Take wood to ranch. Pick up fuzzy pillows and nuts at Costco. Review what's in refrigerator and clean out any old stuff. Go grocery shopping on 5th for staples, fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy snacks. Haven't got a clue what Ana normally eats but we'll try and cover all the bases.

Friday 6/3/2005

Not much went on this week. Month end went pretty smooth. Have some Sales Commission issues that need to be cleaned up. Created my Staff Meeting presentation for next Tuesday. I'm still waiting to hear from Superior Court on my request for some document copies. Hopefully, I get them soon so I can go up to SF. Probably going to do some furniture moving and painting this weekend. I'd like to get Bonnie & Tanner or Ellie Mae out to Henry Coe State Park for some stream crossing training. There is a BBQ at Delbert's on Saturday. I have no idea on where he lives, what time and what to bring. Need to get Lisa to call the barn and find out. Need to pay the horse insurance and estimated federal taxes.

Bonnie Progess

Rode Bonnie Saturday & Sunday. Lunged her on Saturday because she had a couple of days off and was in full heat. She did well though. Just some walk and trot and rode a little outside. It was near dinner time so she was a little focused on the food truck. Sunday was a better day. Got on her right away. Walked and trotted at first. She gave me some attitude going into the trot but I quickly pushed her through it. Time to get real tough on her. Then there was the fun part. We started cantering around the arena. Good thing my balance is coming back and the saddle had a horn. Lot's of attitude, rock and hump bucking for part of it. Once we got through that she did a lot better. Reluctanting willing and minimal steering but she'll get better. We ended by walking once around the track. I thought she was going to roll under saddle in the crass clippings a couple of times.

Weekend of 5/28/05

This past Memorial Day weekend was extremely busy for us. Cleaned out every closet. Got the second bedroom ready to be worked on. Cleaned out and organized the last of the garage and shed. Bought carpeting for the bedrooms and a childen's bedroom set. Picked out paint for the bedrooms. Power washed the outside of the house and trimmed everything. Fixed sprinklers and organized the outside. Rode horses two days. BBQ some nice rib eye steaks on Sunday. Paperwork for the business. Did normal errands. All in all we got a hell of a lot done. The bedroom set should arrive in three weeks. Lisa will start painting this week. I just have to move furniture. Lisa will pick up blinds.

On a sad but good note. I went to the shelter on Friday before going home. Miko was out for adoption. One hurdle down. He had picked up a small cold and they were treating him for it. His spirits picked up greatly when he saw me. I got to hold him. I just hope and pray he uses his box there and he finds a good home. He deserves it.

Donna wrote me and told me that Nana had a real hard time remembering where the family graves were for Memorial Day weekend. I guess Nana's mind is really starting to go. I told Donna it may be time to yank her driving license. I'm afraid she'll go out and not remember how to get home. She is starting to show signs of dementia.

I'm going to try and get to the County Clerk & Superior Court on Wednesday and The Guatemalan Embassy on Thursday or Friday.

My Meal Replacement Shake

1 Cup drinkable yogurt
1 Cup Almond milk
2 Tbls of Mixture.
1 multi-vitamin capsule or 1 cap of liquid vitamins
Mix together well. This isn't for everyone. Texture can be a problem for some.

Mixture = 2 parts (Wheat Germ, Flaxseed Meal, Whey Protein) 1 part Soy protein.

General Update 5/27/05

Talked to Tony Lage today. Good to hear from one of my childhood friends. Got an update on what was going on with people. He's going to get me some Bose speakers for my computer. I'm considered "family." :) Been a busy week. Some ups and downs. Our neighbors and friends Joy and Marty moved to Arizona yesterday. The new neighbors move in this weekend. I was able to get over to the Santa Clara County Clerk on Wednesday. Everything OK except one document and I got that fixed today. Need to go back and also need to go to Superior court to get copy of Divorce decree. Almost paper ready on adoption. Lisa went to hospital yesterday for multi-CT scan. Hated the preparation as usual. Had some hives after the procedure so need to warn doctors if CT scan done again. Might have shellfish allergy. Lisa seems to think maybe part of her problem is an egg allergy. Some type of rare disease. Got caught up on a lot of work. However, underpaid a couple of Reps. System problem. My fault for not anticipating it. Went to see if Miko was available at shelter yet on Wednesday. Not yet. I'm afraid he might not make it. Hopefully, I'll see some down time this weekend. Gabe says T did very well the other day. There is hope yet for him. I'm going to have him trained one more month to cement things in. Need to clean up wood, garage and get as much stuff organized and stored as possible. Going to put up American flag for Memorial Day and maybe cook some Tri-tip. All in all it was not a very good week.

Weekend of 5/21/05

Did a number of things this weekend. Saturday - took Paladin & Bonnie over to the vet's for shots. Dr. Seal says Paladin needs his teeth done badly. I guess Down Under Equine did not do as good a job as they should have. Both were good for their shots. Went up to Indian Hill Ranch with Ellie & Tanner. Both were well behaved. I took Tanner out on trial for a hand walk. Practiced going over streams and mud holes. Of course, Bill had to be a vulture and reminded us to pay the $15 fees plus $1 for the trailer. I ended up getting 5 ticks on me though. Not fun.

Saturday night I saw Star Wars at the theater. Great show. So so dialogue. Excellent special effects. Tied everything up fairly well. A bit dark. Well worth it. I had to laugh at the comparisons to the movie versus our current political situation. Maybe not so funny after all. There are time line differences but after 6 movies and 28 years, I think Lucas can be forgiven.

Sunday - Fixed the retaining wall out back. Going to have to do more later since original wall is not pressure treated. Need to fix back fence post. Broken at bottom. Also not pressure treated lumber. Need plan for shed.

Bonnie & Tanner got trimmed. Tanner fine. Will need shoes soon. Bonnie a bit of pain but better than last time. She's learning. Used squared off shoes to help breakover.

Missing Miko

Today started out a little rough. Not much sleep last night thinking about how much I miss my cat, Miko. I've had him for eight years and even though he wasn't in front of me all the time like the dogs, he was an important part of my daily life.

Opening Blog

Well, I thought I'd try this. Something of a personal diary. A place to put my thoughts and things that are going on in my life. I felt the need not to express myself so much as to create my own little therapy and to put in writing some of my life so that I wouldn't forget later on when the mind goes numb. It's also a place where my future daughter might have a little insight into her father.